Tutorial 1 (Chapters 1 to 3)

1. Classify each of the following variables as qualitative or quantitative. Determine

whether the quantitative variables are discrete or continuous. In addition, specify
the level of measurement for each variable.
a. Education level
b. Today’s high temperature
c. Daily intake of whole grains (measured in grams per day)
d. Number of vending machines at a school
e. Whether a student is prepared for class
f. Number of days per week a student eats lunch
g. Name of a university

2. The following frequency histogram provides average sulfur dioxide emission rates
from utility and industrial boilers (lb/million Btu) for 47 states

a. Identify the intervals of emission rates used for the plot.

b. Describe the shape of the distribution.
c. What information can you get from the dot plot or stem-and-leaf plot of these
data that you cannot get from this plot?
d. This histogram shows frequencies. If you were to construct a histogram using the
percentages for each interval, how (if at all) would the shape of this histogram
change?

3. A recent survey investigated exposure to tobacco use in a series of G-rated animated

films. Data on the total tobacco exposure time (in seconds) is below.
223 176 548 37 158 51 299 37 11
165 74 9 2 6 23 206 9
Find the five-number summary of positions.

4. A survey conducted in a college intro stats class asked students about the number of
credit hours they were taking that quarter. The number of credit hours for a random
sample of 16 students is given in the table.
10 10 12 14 15 15 15 15
17 17 19 20 20 20 20 22
a. Sketch a histogram of these data.
b. Find the mean and standard deviation for the number of credit hours.
 c. Find the median and IQR for the number of credit hours.
d. Is it appropriate to use the mean and standard deviation or the median and IQR
to summarize theses data? Explain.

5. The body temperature of students is taken each time a student goes to the nurse’s
office. The five-number summary for the temperatures (in degrees Fahrenheit) of
students on a particular day is:
Min Q1 Median Q3 Max
° ° ° °
96.6 97.85 98.25 98.6 101.8°
a. Would you expect the mean temperature of all students who visited the nurse’s
office to be higher or lower than the median? Explain.
b. After the data were picked up in the afternoon, three more students visited the
nurse’s office with temperatures of 96.7°, 98.4°, and 99.2°. Were any of these
students outliers? Explain.

6. The boxplots show prices of recycle electric products in thousands of Malaysian

Ringgit, as being sell by three electric shops (called SA, SB, SC).

SA SB SC

a. Which shop offers the cheapest price and at what price?

b. Which shop has the lowest median price, and how much is it?
c. Which shop has the smallest price range, and what is it?
d. Which shop’s prices have the smallest IQR, and what is it?
e. Which shop generally sells the recycle electric products the cheapest? Explain.